Coating apparatus



Patented Nov. 30, 1937 UNITED srA'rssPAT-ENT OFFIIACEA (IQATING APPARATUS Joseph 0. Morris, Verdun, Quebec, Canada, assignor to-Western Electric Company, Incorporyated, New York, N. 3., a corporation of New ork Application September 2, 1936, Serial No. 99,041

9 Elaims. (01. 91-46) Thisinvention relates to coating apparatus, The table it is comprised of a base l8 and upand more particularly to apparatus for applying wardly. extending sides I! and I8 and a top porpowdered material to strands. tion i9. Secured to the underside of the table- 4 It is an object oithe present invention to proare a plurality of guides 25-45 which ride upon vide an efllcient and simple device for coating a pair of rails 26-26 secured to and extending 5 material. transversely of the housing 5. The left end In accordance with one embodiment of the in- (Fig. 1) of the table has a rod 21 secured thereto vention wherein stearin pitch coated electrical whereby the table may be moved back and forth conductors are to have a coating of powdered along the rails 26. mica applied thereto, the strands during their The mechanism for reciprocating the table in- 1 passage from the pitch applying apparatus to a cludes a pivoted lever 28 pivotally mounted upon reel upon which they are to be stored, are passed a bracket 29 secured to a vertically extending over a table above which a hopper having a supmember 30. The upper portion of the lever 28 ply of powdered mica is positioned. The bottom is slotted, as shown at 3|, to receive a pin 32 fixed 5 of the hopper is open and the mica .dust or powto the r'od 21. At its lower end the lever 28 is dered mica placed therein will tend to drop pinned at 34 to a reciprocable lever 35, the right through the hopper and onto the table. The taend (Fig. l) of which is bifurcated to surround a ble is provided with mechanism for shifting it block 36 and pinned to the block at 31-31. The laterally of the path or the wires to prevent the block 36 is mounted upon a rotatable shaft 39 wires from forming tunnels in the mica on the having a thread 40 formed therein which cotable, and removable semi-cylindrical drawers operates with a pin (not shown) mounted in the are provided which may be inverted to dump the block to form a conventional reversing screw powdered mica into the hopper after they are mechanism. Power is supplied to the shaft 3! inserted inahousing which surrounds the hopper through a pulley ll driven by a belt 42 conand reciprocable table. nected to any suitable source of power (not A better understanding of the invention will shown). he had by reference to the following detailed de- The upper portion of the housing is provided scription considered in conjunction with the acwith a pair of doors El and BI whereby the companying drawing, wherein strands I may be threaded through the appara- Fig. 1 is an end elevational view of an apparatus. These doors are hinged to the housing at tus for applying powdered mica to strands coated 52 and 53, respectively, and tend to prevent an with a tacky substance such as stearin pitch, excess of powdered material from escaping from parts being broken away to show more clearly the the housing. At its upper portion the housing construction of the apparatus, and is semi-cylindrical in shape, as shown at 54, for Fig. 2 is a side elcvationai view of the apparareceiving the semi-cylindrical drawer I I and tus shown in Fig. 1, parts being broken away to holding the drawer in-either its upright or inshow more clearly the construction of the apverted position. A latching means in the form D ratus. of a pair of brackets 55 is secured to the hous- Referring now to the drawing wherein like ing at a point just above the center of the semi- 4 characters designate the same'parts throughout cylindrical portion of the housing. One end of i the several views. A housing indicated generally each of the drawers is substantially cylindrical by the numeral *5 is mounted upon standards in shape'having one portion 58 semi-cylindrical 6-6 which may be placed between a mechanism and of a predetermined diameter, and another (not shown) for coating strands! with stearin portion 5'! of a slightly smaller diameter so that pitch, and a reel (not shown) on which the coatthe drawer, when in its upright position, may be drawer it onto a table i5.

ed strands are to be wound after a coating of pushed into the housing with the portion 56 at mica dust has been a plied to them to prevent the bottom and may then be inverted whereby them from sticking tog ther when they are wound the portion 56 will pass into latching relation upon the reel. The upper portion of the houswith the brackets 55 to hold the drawer tightly in ing 5 has mounted therein a hopper 8 having place andmake a substantially dust tight-entapering end walls 9 and I0 and tapering side gagement with the housing. walls II and I2, which converge to form a rec- The lower portion of the housing lain the form tangular opening l3 through which powdered of a bin indicated generally by the numeral 60, mica may be poured from a semi-cylindrical having vertically disposed side walls GI and 62,

and inclined end walls 83 and N. The lower .1

ends of the inclined walls 63 and 64 are joined together and bent to form a semi-cylindrical receptacle 65 for receiving another drawer ll identical in configuration with the drawer described hereinbefore. Adjacent the end wall 64 there is pivoted a lever 66 having secured thereto a latch member 61 and a closure member 66. When it is desired to remove the drawer Hi from the bottom of the housing, the lever 66 may be moved in an anti-clockwise direction, thereby to move the closure member 66 to the position shown in the dot and dash lines and to simultaneously move the latch member 61 out of latching relation with the drawer. Handles are secured to the drawers to facilitate the handling thereof.

In the operation of the apparatus, the strands 1 are strung from the pitch coating mechanism, (not shown) through the mica applying device to the reels (not shown), and after the drawer I4 is inserted in the lower portion of the housing and the lever 66 moved to its full line position to latch the drawer in the lower portion of the housing, a drawer l4 having a supply of powdered mica therein may be inserted in the upper portion of the housing and inverted to dump the powdered mica out of the drawer into the hopper 8 whence it will fallonto the table l5. After the machine is thus put in readiness, the reels may be started to wind the wire, and the source of power (not shown) applied to operate the belt 42, whereupon the table l5 will be reciprocated transversely to the direction of movement of the strands 1, thereby preventing the formation of tunnels in the supply of mica dust on the table l5 due to the constantly changing position of the table. As the operation of the mechanism proceeds, a certain amount of mica dust will be drawn off of the table l5 and will fall into the lower portion of the housing where it will be caught in the drawer I4 placed therein. After a predetermined interval the lever 66 may be moved to the dot and dash line position (Fig. 2), and the drawer l4 removed and transferred to the ,upper portion of the housing, the drawer H which had been in the upper portion of the housing being at the same time transferred to the lower portion and the operation may proceed, transference of the drawers taking place as soon as the supply of powdered mica in the hopper gets low.

Although a specific embodiment of the invention,has been described herein, it wil. be understood that manymodifications might be made without departing from the scope of the invention, which is to be limited only by the appended claims.

What is claimed is: i

1. In an apparatus for applying powdered material to moving articles, a hopper for directing a supply of powdered material into engagement with the moving articles; a table positioned below said hopper for holding a supply of said powdered material, and-means for moving said table in a direction transverse to the direction of movement directing a supply of powdered material into engagement with the moving articles, a' table positioned below said hopper for holding a supply of said powdered material, and means for moving said table in a direction transverse to -the direcg tion of movement or said articles.

3. In an apparatus for applying powdered material to moving articles, a stationary hopper for directing a supply of powdered material into engagement with the moving articles, a table positioned below said hopper for holding a supply of said powdered material, and means including a reversing screw mechanism, and a pivoted lever for moving said table transversely to the direction of movement of the wires.

4. In an apparatus for applying powdered material to moving articles, a hopper for directing a supply of powdered material into engagement with the moving articles, a table positioned below said hopper for holding a supply of said powdered material, and means for moving said table relative to the hopper in a direction transverse to the direction of movement of said articles.

5. In an apparatus for applying powdered material to moving, articles, a housing through which articles may be moved, a hopper positioned in the-upper portion of the housing and adapted to direct powdered material to the articles, a pair of rails positioned in said housing, a table movable on said rails, means for moving said table across said housing on said rails, a bin for receiving material dropped from said table, and a pair of drawers interchangeably positioned in the upper portion of the housing and in the bottom of said bin.

6. In an apparatus for applying powdered material to strands, a housing through which the strands may be moved including an upper semicylindrical portion, and a bin having a pair of angularly disposed walls terminating in a semicylindrical portion, a hopper fixed in said housing and disposed directly beneath the upper semicylindrical portion, a table movable beneath said hopper in a direction transverse to the direction in which the articles are movable, and a pair of drawers alternately positionable ineither of the semi-cylindrical portions '7. In an apparatus for applying a coating of powdered material to moving strands, a housing through which the strands may be moved, a hopper positioned in said housing for receiving a supply of said material, a table reciprocable transversely of the direction of movement of the strands and beneath the hopper, and a pair of drawers semi-cylindrical in form and identical in configuration and fitting in the upper and lower portions of said housing, either of said drawers being rotatable in said housing after insertion therein for. dumping powdered material into the hopper.

8. In an apparatus for applying a coating of powdered material to moving strands, a housing through which the strands may be moved, a hopper positioned in said housing for receiving a supply of said material, a table reciprocable transversely of the direction of movement of the strands and beneath the hopper, and a pair of drawers semi-cylindrical in form and identical in configuration and fitting in the upper and lower portions of said housing, either of said drawers being rotatable in said housing after insertion therein for dumping powdered material into the hopper, and latching means for holding one-of said drawers in the upper portion of said hous- A ing when the drawer is in a predetermined rotatable position. i

Y 9. In an apparatus for applying a coating of powdered material to moving strands, a housing through which the strands may be moved, a hop: per positionedin said housing for receiving a supply of said material, a table reciprocable transversely of the direction of movement of the strands and beneath the hopper, and a pair. of

' drawers semi-cylindrical in form and identical in configuration and fitting in the upper and lower portions of said housing, either of said drawers being rotatable in said housing after insertion therein for dumping powdered material into the hopper, latching means for holding one of said drawers in the lower portion of said housing, and means operable by said latching means for preventing powdered material from falling into said lower portion of the housing when said latch is open.

JOSEPH C. MORRIS. 

